Atelier
by infalliblejily
Summary: Marlene works in a modeling studio and decides to drag Lily to work one day. Lily meets Marlene's boss, James, and gets into some debt which can only be paid off by money or one day working at the studio. One day at the studio it is.


**Atelier**

 **infalliblejily**

 **Disclaimer: Not J.K. That is all.**

* * *

"There's free coffee! Please?"

"I don't even like coffee, you know that!"

"Yeah, but maybe you could've done me a favor and forgotten?"

Lily sighed in exasperation. "Marlene-"

"Wait! I got it!" She paused dramatically, "I'll buy you all the hot cocoa you want."

It was a tempting offer. Lily was a sucker for the warm, chocolaty drink. She loved the way it burned her tongue. Or the way it trickled down her throat on a cold day, shooting her.

She caved in.

"Fine. But only for the hot cocoa, and you've got to buy it before we go. I can't wait for a gazillion hours without it."

"It won't _take_ a gazillion hours, but alright, if it'll get you to come."

* * *

"Extra, extra, extra large cocoa with extra cream!" yelled the barista.

"You're cruel, Lily, you know that? What type of friend makes another pay _three times the original amount for a bloody cup of cocoa_?"

Lily shrugged, her eyes gleaming, "Well, you did say you'd buy me all the hot cocoa I want." She smiled a mischievous smile. "You also never said when the offer ended..."

Marlene shook her head, grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her out of the café.

* * *

The first thing James Potter noticed when his dress model, Marlene, walked in, was the red-haired beauty she was practically dragging by the ear.

She clearly had been forced to come to the studio.

"Mckinnon!" he said, putting on his professional act, "Who's this?"

"This," she announced, pushing her companion to the front for emphasis, "Is Lily Evans."

His golden eyes widened and he grinned broadly, " _T_ _he_ Lily Evans?"

"Well, that's my name."

"Marly here's told me all about you, Evans." his professional demeanor dropping.

" _All_ about me?" she questioned, turning to raise a red eyebrow at Marlene.

"Well," James cut in, "Maybe not _all_ about you. But quite a bit." He smiled.

She rolled her vividly green eyes.

"Right, well, Marlene, I'd like to enjoy my cocoa in peace."

"Fine," Marlene sighed, "I'll take you to the dressing room which is basically a bunch of stalls with dresses no one models."

"Why? That is such a waste. Couldn't they be donated to people that need them?"

"Apparently not."

"Well I think that's stupid."

Marlene smiled. " _I_ think you're right."

* * *

Lily sat still for about five minutes. In another five minutes, she crossed and uncrossed her legs while sitting a total of thirty-five times.

The room was well-lit and much like the part of the studio she'd seen when she walked in. It was very spacious, despite the impression of it being small that Marlene had given her. There were white stalls lining the walls of the room, except for the back wall, which had a mirror. It was very well designed, Lily concluded.

Finally, Lily got up with her cocoa, bored of waiting. She walked around the room and decided to look inside the stalls. In each one, was a single dress.

As she finished looking at the last dress, she tripped. Not while turning away from the dress, no, more like she tripped on her own two feet, falling towards the dress, with her cocoa in her hand, spilling.

It had been quite a beautiful dress, yellow and bright, like a sunflower, her favorite flower. Now, there was an ugly brown stain across the bodice. She was too busy wincing at the damage to hear someone walk in behind her.

"Hey, Evans? Marlene's all ready to go and-" he focused his attention on the dress in front of her. His eyes turned stormy and a bit of... was that _mischief_ in his eyes?

"Well, well, well. Do you know how much that cost, Evans?"

She shrunk back. "No!"

"Well, let's just say it's a Lemmonan."

Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. I've spilled cocoa on a _Lemmonan_. How am I going to pay for this? Oh my gosh! I'm going to be in debt forever!"

He chuckled at that. "Not forever, Evans. But there is another way." Suddenly, there was a phone in his hand. "Hello? Peter? I'm going to need the best you have, A.S.A.P. Right. Thanks."

Wordlessly, he grabbed the dress in one hand and Lily's hand in the other.

"Where are we going?"

"You can call me James. We're going to wash the dress with Peter's stuff," he beamed proudly, "It's the best. But, no one will want to wear it, so you'll have to model it."

"Me? But I- I can't!"

"Why not? It's either you wear it or you pay."

"I guess I'll wear it." she said reluctantly.

* * *

They reached the area where Marlene had been modeling. Lily looked around and realized her best friend wasn't there.

She turned to James. "Where's Marls?"

"She left."

"Left?"

"Yep."

"Okay then..."

After waiting, Peter came and left, leaving behind a clean, white Lemmonan dress.

"Alright," James said, dragging her into a room, "Change."

Lily blushed a furious scarlet, trying to cover herself up by holding the dress up. James did one thing he never did; he turned around for a model.

After getting into her dress, she called to James. "Alright, I'm done."

Torturously slowly, he turned around.

"Finally," he grumbled, "Took you long enough-"

He stopped talking.

"What?" Lily asked anxiously, pulling on the dress, "Is something wrong?"

He quickly closed his mouth, which had opened upon seeing her. "No, everything's fine. More than fine." He looked into her eyes. "Perfect," he breathed.

"Er, thank you."

He nodded. "Right. Let's start." He held out his hand for her and moved her to the center of the floor. James walked back to the camera and looked through the lens, only to find her looking painfully awkward. "Hey, Lily, it's fine. Just relax."

He saw her exhale and loosen the stiffness of her posture. "Smile." At her smile, he took a picture.

"So...?" She trailed off.

He understood what she was trying to ask and laughed. "We're not done just yet."

"Oh,"

And suddenly, he was there, at her side, holding her hand. "It'll be alright, I promise." He rubbed smooth circles on her hand with his thumb, trying to reassure her, but all he felt was her increasing heartbeat. Fire erupted and red graced her cheeks. James didn't seem to know the effect he had on her.

"We're going to have to do a partner shoot. All my models have gone; its after hours."

His hands went at her waist and clasped her other hand, bringing them into a waltz position.

"Are you comfortable with this?"

Truthfully, she nodded her head 'yes'.

He smiled, "We are going to dance together. The camera will take timed pictures."

They started off slowly, hesitantly. As Lily spun, James pulled her closer to him. He was looking at her, his eyes smiling gently. Her breath caught.

"Perfect..." he whispered, his eyes never leaving her green ones. "Perfect."

And he stepped away.

"A-are we done?"

Turning off the equipment, he turned to her. "With the shoot? Yes. But with us? I hope not."

Her only reaction was to stare.

His hand shot to his hair, "I mean, well- I was sort of-"

She gave him a look that encouraged him to carry on quickly.

"Do you want to get lunch together?"

She smiled, and so did he. They seemed to do that quite a lot in each other's presence. "Why not?"

* * *

A week and four dates later, Marlene was walking to the studio, a certain red-head by her side, sipping hot cocoa.

* * *

 **a/n: Review?  
**

 **Atelier means studio in French.**

 **As always, don't take my work. I might not own Harry Potter but my writing is mine. It's _mine_.**


End file.
